Not Staring, Gazing
by cavlik97
Summary: Skye keeps catching Ward staring at her and she first brushes it off, but then confronts him about it and he admits he has feelings for her. (Based on a tumblr prompt, written before 1x13 aired).


prompt: _skyeward prompt: skye keeps catching ward staring at her and she first brushes it off, but then confronts him about it and he admits he has feelings for her/likes her. please and thank you! (:_

*note: this was written before 1x13!

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He was honestly the least subtle person on the Bus, which was surprising considering how terrible a liar Simmons was.

But she noticed right from the get go, the way he started looking at her differently.

The way the anger and coldness in his eyes that had began right after her betrayal slowly morphed into amusement and friendship and affection. At first, she had just brushed it off, thinking that it was him forgiving her. But now, it was something different.

The entire time they were at the academy, it was as if he hadn't been able to keep his eyes of her and _of course _she had noticed. After Coulson's revelation, she didn't bother picking up on whether he was gazing at her or not - her insides were too busy churning from the new information about her past. She figured Coulson had told the entire team to go easy on her, not telling them everything, but enough to make them understand that she was currently going through inner turmoil.

Through dinner that night, she sat next to Simmons on the couch as they watched early episodes from Coulson's box-set of FRIENDS, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ward glancing over at her worriedly from the other sofa, his food gradually getting cold in his lap.

Training had been abandoned for a while but after a day or two, Skye was agitated and wanted to get back into it. Ward was more than happy to oblige.

'I want you to be tougher on me,' she announced on her first session after finding out about her past. 'I really, really want to be a SHIELD agent as fast as possible. I want you to go as tough on me as you have to.'

Ward raised an eyebrow but nodded, silently taking her hands to check her wraps and adjust them slightly. He did this before every session but this time, not like usual. Skye remembered the way he did it even before the betrayal. Roughly, grabbing her wrists and quickly running his eyes over her hands before throwing them down to her sides again. This time, his fingers were gentle and he took his time ensuring she'd wrapped her hands correctly before letting her arms drop slowly.

'Two minutes, hard punches,' he instructed.

He held the boxing bag firmly and Skye alligned herself with it, guarding her face with her fists and starting her steady punches at the bag. She knew that usually, he would keep his eyes on her stance because she tended to get sloppy about a minute in. This time, his eyes would linger from her body to her face, and as much as he was attempting to hide the anxiety in his eyes, it was still obvious.

About a week later, they had a mission where the whole team was required to go undercover. There was a large fundraiser being held in Monaco and May and Coulson already had contacts who had got the team invites, Fitzsimmons were needed as there was a secret lab underneath the mansion the party was being held at, and the scientists would be required to identify the dangerous substance being stored there that SHIELD needed to recover. Seeing as May and Coulson would need to be seen throughout the evening, Skye and Ward were Fitzsimmons' backup.

The boys wore the standard tux.

The girls got to dress up.

Skye wore a long, silky red dress that was extremely tight fitting and showed a bit more back and cleavage than she (and Ward) were used to. He spent a good fifteen seconds gawking at her when she, May and Simmons walked into the living area, announcing they were ready to go. As he guided her to the car they were to arrive in, Skye resisted a shiver when he placed a hand on the small of her back, murmuring under his breath 'You look beautiful, by the way.'

She just smiled and ducked her head to hide her blush, pretending not to notice his bewitched gaze the entire night.

About a month after Skye had discovered the truth about her past was when it all spiralled out of control. They were undercover on a train and the entire mission went sideways - May got slashed with a knife in the stomach, Skye got shot, Ward got bloodied and bruised and bashed - Coulson and Fitzsimmons were the only ones to emerge from the mission unscathed.

Skye didn't remember much, just the blood pooling at her chest and the throbbing, aching pain prodding at her ribs and lungs as she lay there in Coulson's arms, sensing the world drifting away from her. And then, she was awake. She didn't hurt, her bullet wound was gone and Fitz was staring at her in absolute shock.

'Where are the others?' Skye croaked out. She suddenly became aware of a panicked situation in which May was propped up against the side of the train's luggage compartment (where they were located), blood seeping through her shirt and ugly knife wound scarring her stomach. Simmons, Ward and Coulson surrounded her. Simmons was attempting to find a needle and thread to stitch her up and Ward looked as if he was about to pass out. His eye was swollen and cheek bruised as he clutched his chest, as if holding broken ribs. May eyelids flickered and Coulson swore loudly, his cheeks stained with tears.

'No, no, no,' the team leader begged, 'we're not losing two of us in one day.'

'Two of us?' Skye echoed, louder than before. Her voice led everyone to look at her, stunned into silence.

'She's alive,' May whispered, managing to convey her astonishment despite the dire situation. Skye didn't know what led her to do it. It felt like an old, buried instinct within her as she crawled over to the older woman, gently placing her shaking hands over her middle. It happened almost instantly and Skye smiled at the warmth that filled her body, travelling from the bottom of her feet, through her legs and torso up to her arms and to her hands, which started to glow. Amber tendrils laced themselves around her wrist and fingers and she held her breath.

'Oh my god,' Simmons gasped. 'It's healing! Look - it's healing!'

Everyone scrambled forwards and once Skye stopped feeling the thick blood in her palms, she pulled her hands away, the energy draining from her and exhaustion seeping in.

'The wound's gone,' murmured Coulson, almost laughing with joy.

'She's gonna collapse!' May said quickly, catching Skye's eyelids droop.

'Got her,' said Ward, darting around Coulson to catch Skye as she fell. She glanced up at him before blackness consumed her again to meet confused but relieved eyes that were filled with unshed tears.

What the others had witnessed was explained to them by Coulson once everyone was back aboard the Bus. Skye avoided looking at Ward for the rest of the week. She had grown to like the warmth she felt when she caught him gazing affectionately at her and she was terrified of finding something different in his eyes - betrayal, anger, confusion, _fear. _

May had quietly expressed her gratitude for what Skye had done and Simmons timidly requested permission to run some tests to try and figure out the extent of Skye's powers. Skye didn't mind. She knew that Fitzsimmons would do this purely for their own curiosity and her own benefit. She was too anxious to face her S.O.'s reaction but it became unavoidable as the next week started and her training resumed. It was nearing six a.m. when they began training - they were the only ones up on the plane. Skye kept her eyes down, staring hard at the boxing bag as she dolled out fierce punches at it.

Out of her peripheral vision, she could see Ward not even attempting to hide the fact that his eyes rested on her.

_Punch. _'Stop.' _Punch. _'Staring.' _Punch. _'At.' _Punch. _'Me.' _Punch._

'Look at me then.'

Skye stopped her attack on the boxing bag, sucking in a sharp breath and looking up at him, frowning in surprise.

His eyes were soft, his mouth curved upwards in a smile and his expression unreadable.

'You've been doing this for months!' accused Skye breathlessly, prodding him in the chest with her index finger. Guilt surged through her at his obvious hiss of pain and she remembered his broken ribs. But knowing his high pain tolerance, she continued. 'You keep staring at me! Why? What's your problem Ward?'

'No problem,' he answered, grimacing as he tentatively rubbed the spot where her finger had been.

'Then what is it?' she demanded. 'Spit it out! What's so goddamn fascinating about me, huh?'

'I'm in love with you,' said Ward simply and although he said it with exactly the same expression as he previously wore, Skye noticed his nervous swallow and his toes curl in worry for her reaction. She just noticed then that she was holding her breath and staring at him as fixedly as he had been at her.

She had no idea what to say. Honestly, she had never been great with words when she really needed them. But the pounding of her heart and the light-headed feeling that was washing over her provided the answer she needed to his statement but she had no clue how to express it.

With trembling fingers, she stepped forward closer to him and raised her hand to his cheek. She let the warmth flood through her body until it reached the ends of her fingers, the amber strands coiling themselves around her wrist and hands and quickly fading the bruising and swelling on Ward's face. He gasped softly, his hand pressing against his own chest carefully, an impressed grin spreading across his face when he found no pain with the action.

She met his eyes shyly, almost wanting to turn away at the intensity of his gaze.

'What is it?' she whispered.

'Your eyes,' he replied just as quietly. 'They were glowing.'

She pulled away in shock. 'That's creepy!' she exclaimed.

'It was incredible,' he corrected, curling his hand around her wrist and pulling her back in. 'Thank you.'

'I don't know if that's the answer you wanted,' Skye admitted, biting down on her bottom lip. Ward brushed some hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. He brought his forehead down to rest against her's, locking his eyes with her's for a brief moment before sealing the gap between them with a gentle kiss.

Skye smiled to herself as she slunk up onto her tip toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him.

'You know something you pick up when someone keeps staring at you for like, two months?' she said with a smirk against his lips.

'What?' he asked, amused.

'You have really, really nice eyes.'

_fin_

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a/n: reviews would be fabuloussss! hope the hiatus isn't killing you guys xx


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